–Strike actions at Lufthansa is escalating, with ground staff going on strike from 4am today, Tuesday 20 February, until 7:10am on Wednesday 21 February, resulting in 80-90% of the German airline’s flights being cancelled.
The powerful trade union Verdi, which represents around 25,000 ground workers at Lufthansa companies and is currently negotiating a new collective agreement, is also behind the new, warning strike.
The strike is already causing serious problems at Germany’s largest airports, such as those in Frankfurt and Munich, and traffic is expected to be affected at all German airports.
Up to 200,000 Lufthansa passengers are expected to cancel their flights due to the strike by the German airline’s ground staff, according to the British Independent.
Lufthansa warns passengers that, due to the strike, only about 10 to 20% of the airline’s flight schedule can be operated, especially today. While, in addition to the impact on Tuesday’s flights, the “first wave” of Wednesday’s departures is in the crosshairs, leading to many more cancellations.
“Passengers affected by flight cancellations due to the Verdi strike will be notified by email or via the Lufthansa app. We regret the inconvenience to our customers,” Lufthansa said.
Talks between the union and the airline broke down last week, with Verdi claiming 96% of members rejected Lufthansa’s latest offer.
The powerful union says that ground staff pay is below that of other Lufthansa employees and that in a time of record profits the airline should “return to employees part of their lost income from the coronavirus pandemic”.
According to Verdi’s chief negotiator, Marvin Reschinsky, while the group gives its pilots with an annual basic income of up to €270,000 high double-digit pay increases, ground workers, who are often paid only the basic hourly rate of €13, are not even compensated for the losses caused by the price increases of recent years.
According to him, the union is demanding a pay rise of 12.5% or at least 500 euros/month and a one-off “inflation compensation” of 3,000 euros.
